This bill became law on Aug 26th, 2026.
Budget, tax & economy
Large corporate groups must pay the charge when they provide a major social media or internet search service in Australia and earn more than $250 million in relevant Australian digital advertising revenueAdvertising income connected with covered services and Australia..
The government says advertising income that once supported Australian newsrooms has shifted to large global digital platforms, while those platforms benefit from news that attracts and retains users. It says the existing bargaining code has a loophole because a platform can avoid bargaining by withdrawing or reducing news, so this scheme encourages commercial deals even if a platform stops carrying news. Treasury estimated existing platform-news deals were worth about $200–250 million a year and designed the scheme to help avoid a funding gap of a similar size.
Australia’s News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code took effect on 3 March 2021, but the government said its protection was limited because a platform could avoid bargaining by stopping or reducing news, while digital advertising revenue moved away from newsrooms. After committing in 2024 to a News Media Bargaining Incentive, the government introduced the bill through Daniel Mulino MP to encourage large social-media and search groups to fund Australian news or pay a 2.5% charge, with proceeds directed to the News Journalism Payments Scheme; Parliament passed it and Royal Assent followed in August 2026.
The evidence pack's two speech records contain the same government speech and no opposing debate speech, so it does not establish a full account of criticism made during debate. Proposed parliamentary amendments nevertheless show several concerns. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, for the Australian Greens, identified the exclusion of artificial-intelligence companies using journalists' work without paying rights-holders as the scheme's biggest gap; she also proposed reducing the maximum reduction attributable to one news group from 25% to 17%. Senator David Pocock proposed requiring at least 12.5% of new qualifying spending to go to news groups earning less than $20 million a year. In the House, Ms Le proposed preventing any two news groups from receiving more than half of all qualifying spending.
Daniel Mulino MP introduced this bill. It passed on the voices.
Did it become law?
Yes
Became law 26 Aug 2026
Final passage
Passed without a counted vote
5 recorded amendment or procedural votes were found, but no counted vote on the bill itself was recorded.
Passage speed
13 days
From introduction to the latest recorded parliamentary step
Meaning
Large corporate groups must pay the charge when they provide a major social media or internet search service in Australia and earn more than $250 million in relevant Australian digital advertising revenueAdvertising income connected with covered services and Australia.. A service generally qualifies only if it averages more than 5 million monthly Australian users for social media, or more than 10 million for search.
The charge is 2.5% of the group's relevant Australian digital advertising revenueAdvertising income connected with covered services and Australia. from the second-most-recent financial year. It applies from the 2025–26 financial year, cannot be deducted for income-tax purposes and will fund the News Journalism Payments Scheme.
Platforms can reduce or eliminate the charge by funding Australian news production or paying for Australian news to be made available online. Spending required by an arbitration decision under the existing news bargaining code can also qualify. To receive any reduction, a group must have new qualifying spending with at least eight different news-business groups.
Qualifying spending receives extra weight when the reduction is calculated: spending with news groups made up only of small or medium businesses counts at 200%, while other qualifying spending counts at 150%. No more than 25% of the total charge can be offset through spending attributed to any one news-business group, and the overall reduction cannot exceed the charge.
Unused qualifying spending can be carried into a later year, but only when the platform qualified for a reduction in the current year. The reduction cannot produce a refund or be used against another tax.
Temporary rules let some existing deals count around the scheme's commencement, including benefits provided to news businesses that are not registered. Under these rules, marketing and advertising can count for no more than 40% of the total spending under each deal.
Stand-alone artificial-intelligence services that mainly use large language models to generate answers are outside the definition of a search service. A conventional search engine remains covered if it uses such a model only to summarise or explain its search results.
If a parent company does not pay the charge or related interest, the parent and every member of its service groupA parent company and the entities it controls. are each liable for the full outstanding amount. A group member is excluded if Australian law prohibits it from entering an arrangement that would make it liable.
The Tax Commissioner can cancel benefits created by arrangements whose sole or dominant purpose, or principal effect, is to reduce the charge or inflate a reduction. The rules apply to arrangements entered into on or after 1 January 2025. They also cover arrangements carried out or commenced on or after that date, but only if they were not entered into before it. Arrangements may be made or carried out outside Australia.
An independent review must begin as soon as practicable after the three-year period starting when the Act commences. It must include public consultation, and the reviewers must give their report to the minister within 18 months after the review begins.
12 Simplified outline of this Part Charge is payable by a parent entity for a financial year if: (a) the parent entity’s service group provides a significant social media or search service in the financial year; and (b) the service group’s total relevant Australian digital advertising revenue exceeds $250 million for the financial year. 13 Liability to pay charge (1) Charge is payable by the parent entity of a service group for a financial year if: (a) the service group’s 12‑month financial reporting period ending during the financial year is a reporting period that starts on or after 1News Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
The amount of NMI a parent entity is liable for in a financial year is calculated by applying the NMI rate to the total relevant Australian digital advertising revenue for the parent entity’s service group from the group’s 12-month financial reporting period that ends during the second-most-recent financial year before the current financial year. The NMI Bill imposes the NMI at a rate of 2.5 per cent.News Media Bargaining (Administration) explanatory memorandum
A parent entity’s charge payable for a financial year can be offset by any eligible expenditure that members of the parent entity’s service group have for the financial year. To be entitled to an offset, the service group must have new eligible expenditure for the financial year in relation to at least 8 different news business corporate groups. Eligible expenditure is consideration provided to registered news businesses: (a) for the production, or to support the production, by the news businesses of news content; or (b) in connection with news content produced by the news businesses beingNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
20 Amount of the charge offset (1) The amount of the parent entity’s charge offset for the financial year is worked out by: (a) working out the total new eligible expenditure of the members of the parent entity’s service group for the financial year in relation to each news business corporate group; and (b) for each of those totals—multiplying the total by whichever of the following percentages that is applicable: (i) for a news business corporate group consisting only of small or medium business entities for the financial year—200%; (ii) for other news business corporate groups—150%; andNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
Note 2: The parent entity can choose how much of each adjusted total from paragraph (c) is to be combined to produce the sum from paragraph (d). (2) The parent entity may carry forward to a later financial year, in relation to a particular news business corporate group, so much of the adjusted total from paragraph (1)(c) in relation to the group as is not used under paragraph (1)(d). Note 1: An amount carried forward under this subsection is carried forward eligible expenditure of the parent entity for a later financial year (see subsection 17(3)). Note 2: Carried forward eligible expendituNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
Eligible expenditure generally only covers monetary consideration provided to a member of a registered news business corporate group for covered news content. However, as a transitional measure, any consideration provided for the benefit of a news business corporate group (including unregistered news groups) can also be eligible expenditure for financial years if the value of that consideration is recognised in financial reporting periods that overlap with, or end before, the day the Administration Bill receives Royal Assent. [Clause 15 and paragraph 17(2)(a) of the Administration Bill] ThisNews Media Bargaining (Administration) explanatory memorandum
9 Meaning of search service (1) A search service is an electronic service that satisfies the following conditions: (a) the service is an internet search engine service; (b) the service enables searches of the internet broadly, rather than just searches: (i) of a limited database; or (ii) to compare prices for particular goods or services; or (iii) to compare prices for goods or services across a particular sector; (c) the service neither solely nor primarily uses large language models. (2) A service is not excluded by paragraph (1)(c) from being a search service if the service merely uNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
Additional liability of members of a service group Where an amount of NMI and any interest is payable by a parent entity of a service group, each member of that group and the parent entity are jointly and severally liable to pay the outstanding amount. This provides the Commissioner flexibility in decisions about which entity to take action against to ensure that outstanding amounts due are recovered. ‘Parent entity’ and ‘service group’ have the same meaning as in the Administration Bill. [Item 11, Schedule 1 to the Consequential Amendments Bill, subsection 129‑15(1) of Schedule 1 to the TAANews Media Bargaining (Administration) explanatory memorandum
21 Simplified outline of this Part The object of this Part is to deter schemes that give entities benefits by reducing charge or increasing amounts of charge offset. If the sole or dominant purpose, or principal effect, of a scheme is to give an entity such a benefit, the Commissioner may negate the benefit an entity gets from the scheme by declaring: (a) how much charge would have been payable; or (b) how much charge offset would have been available; if the scheme had not existed. 22 When this Part applies General rule (1) This Part operates if: (a) an entity (the avoider) gets or goNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
30 Review of the operation of this Act etc. (1) The Minister must cause an independent review to be conducted of the operation of this Act and the News Media Bargaining Charge Act 2026. (2) The review must make provision for public consultation. (3) The review must commence as soon as practicable after the end of the 3‑year period starting on the commencement of this Act. (4) The persons who conduct the review must give the Minister a written report of the review within 18 months of the commencement of the review. (5) The Minister must cause a copy of the report of the review to be tabledNews Media Bargaining (Administration) Act 2026
Context
Australia’s News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code took effect on 3 March 2021, but the government said its protection was limited because a platform could avoid bargaining by stopping or reducing news, while digital advertising revenue moved away from newsrooms. After committing in 2024 to a News Media Bargaining Incentive, the government introduced the bill through Daniel Mulino MP to encourage large social-media and search groups to fund Australian news or pay a 2.5% charge, with proceeds directed to the News Journalism Payments Scheme; Parliament passed it and Royal Assent followed in August 2026.
Mandatory bargaining code takes effect
The News Media and Digital Platforms Mandatory Bargaining Code began addressing bargaining power imbalances between large digital platforms and Australian news businesses.
News Media Bargaining (Administration) explanatory memorandum ↗Government commits to a news bargaining incentive
The government committed to encouraging large social media and search providers to support Australian news through commercial deals for producing and distributing news.
News Media Bargaining (Administration) explanatory memorandum ↗Daniel Mulino MP introduces the bill
Daniel Mulino MP introduced the bill in the House of Representatives to create an incentive for large platforms to fund Australian news or face a charge.
Hansard ↗Parliament passes the bill
Both houses passed the bill in the same form, completing parliamentary approval for the new news bargaining incentive.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Royal Assent turns the bill into an Act
The Governor-General gave Royal Assent, allowing the administration framework to commence and the charge to apply from the 2025–26 financial year.
Parliamentary timeline ↗Legislative route
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
Second reading agreed to
The chamber considered the bill in detail and dealt with amendments before the next stage.
Consideration in detail debate
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Third reading agreed to
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Introduced and read a first time
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Second reading moved
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
Second reading agreed to
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Third reading agreed to
Both houses passed the bill in the same form, completing parliamentary passage.
Finally passed both Houses
The Governor-General gave Royal Assent, turning the bill into an Act.
Key criticism
The evidence pack's two speech records contain the same government speech and no opposing debate speech, so it does not establish a full account of criticism made during debate. Proposed parliamentary amendments nevertheless show several concerns. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, for the Australian Greens, identified the exclusion of artificial-intelligence companies using journalists' work without paying rights-holders as the scheme's biggest gap; she also proposed reducing the maximum reduction attributable to one news group from 25% to 17%. Senator David Pocock proposed requiring at least 12.5% of new qualifying spending to go to news groups earning less than $20 million a year. In the House, Ms Le proposed preventing any two news groups from receiving more than half of all qualifying spending.
The government said the scheme targets the largest platforms, requires qualifying spending with at least eight news organisations and gives spending with small and medium publishers greater weight. The final Act retained the eight-group test, the 25% per-group cap and the 200% weighting for small and medium groups.
Votes
The bill passed both chambers on the voices. The counted divisions below were about amendments or procedure, not final passage.
House agreed to the bill's third reading on the voices, so there is no list of individual Aye and No votes for final passage in that chamber.
Passed on the voices
In a voice vote, members call out Aye or No and the presiding officer judges which side has it. Individual names are only recorded if a formal division is called.
Senate agreed to the bill's third reading on the voices, so there is no list of individual Aye and No votes for final passage in that chamber.
Passed on the voices
In a voice vote, members call out Aye or No and the presiding officer judges which side has it. Individual names are only recorded if a formal division is called.
Recorded amendment and procedural votes grouped by chamber. Expand a vote to see the party breakdown.
House
Defeated 12 to 65. Support came from Community Strong Australia, Greens, Centre Alliance, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor and Liberal.
Senate
Defeated 13 to 29. Support came from Greens, One Nation, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor and Liberal.
Defeated 23 to 35. Support came from Liberal, One Nation, Nationals, and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor, Greens, and minor parties and independents.
Defeated 10 to 34. Support came from Greens and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor, Liberal, One Nation, and Nationals.
Defeated 10 to 33. Support came from Greens and minor parties and independents. Opposition came from Labor, Liberal, and One Nation.
These are amendment votes, not the final passage vote on the bill itself. The bill passed both chambers on the voices.
Parliamentary debate
Start here — lead voices
Mulino supports the bill because it would require large digital platforms to contribute to Australian journalism, either through commercial agreements with news businesses or a charge returned to the news sector.
Read in Hansard ↗All speeches by bloc
1 speaker · 1 support
“In other words, platforms have a clear choice. They can do fair commercial deals that support Australian journalism, or, if they choose not to, they will pay the charge.”Read the full speech in Hansard ↗
Record
House · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
House · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
House · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
House · Second reading agreed to
Second reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
House · Consideration in detail debate
Consideration in detail
The chamber considered the bill in detail and dealt with amendments before the next stage.
House · Third reading agreed to
Third reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Senate · Introduced and read a first time
Introduced
The bill was formally presented to the chamber and read a first time, which starts its parliamentary journey.
Senate · Second reading moved
Second reading opened
A minister or sponsoring member moved the second reading, opening the main debate on the bill's purpose and principles.
Senate · Second reading debate
Second reading debate
The bill reached this recorded parliamentary step.
Senate · Second reading agreed to
Second reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at second reading, meaning it accepted the bill in principle and allowed it to continue.
Senate · Third reading agreed to
Third reading agreed
The chamber agreed to the bill at third reading, which completed passage through that chamber.
Parliament · Finally passed both Houses
Passed both houses
Both houses passed the bill in the same form, completing parliamentary passage.
Assent · Assent
Assent
The Governor-General gave Royal Assent, turning the bill into an Act.
